http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September
2008 20:15
THE frail-looking woman with wrinkles of grief etched all
over her
face like permanent scars is devastated.
At
the mention of her only son, Joy Kabande (29), tears well up in her
sunken
eyes and rain down the creased cheeks. Joy succumbed to cholera early
this
month.
Evidently, the wrinkles are not from age, but a month of
pain and
grief.
Joy's mother, Mai Kabande, is just 54
years.
"He was the only boy I had and was completing the
construction of this
house," she says amid the torrent of tears. "I was
robbed. Who will take
care of me now?"
Her daughter, who only
identified herself as Mrs Musokeri, joined in
and had no kind words for
medical staff at South Medical Clinic in
Chitungwiza, whom she accuses of
gross negligence.
"I blame the doctors and the staff at the
hospital," Musokeri said.
"He could have survived, if they had given him
care. They neglected him but
now they are demanding lots of money for doing
nothing."
Joy, who was a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe and
had planned
his wedding on October 5, was the sole breadwinner of the whole
family.
He is one of the 16 people who have succumbed to cholera, a
preventable disease, during the past month.
Sources in the
health sector told The Standard that more than 16
people had died
countrywide but most of the cases go unreported because they
die at home due
to the current high cost of health care.
Cases of cholera have been
reported in Harare and Chitungwiza.
The Ministry of Health and
Child Welfare has set aside Seke North
clinic in Chitungwiza to deal with
cholera cases only. When The Standard
visited the clinic last week there was
a long queue of people, who said they
were suffering from diarrhoea, waiting
for treatment.
The patients, mostly children, were writhing in
agony on the floors as
the few nurses battled to attend to
them.
Some of the nurses were distributing dehydration salts and
aqua
tablets, for use in drinking water.
Human rights activists
and medical doctors have described the deaths
from cholera as "criminal
negligence" by health officials and government.
They lambasted, Dr
David Parirenyatwa, the Minister of Health and the
Minister of Water
Resources and Infrastructural Development, Engineer
Munacho Mutezo for a
"lackadaisical" approach to the outbreak.
The Zimbabwe National
Water Authority's (Zinwa) - which falls under
Mutezo's ministry - has failed
to treat and pump adequate supplies of
water - has left most urban homes dry
and forced residents to rely on unsafe
supplies of water.
Burst
sewage pipes have become common while refuse goes uncollected
for several
months, threatening the health of millions on Zimbabweans.
Itai
Rusike, the director of the Community Working Group on Health
(CWGH), blames
the government for the deaths insisting that it has failed to
prioritise the
health sector.
"Our plea to the government is that they should
treat the health
sector like they are doing agriculture," Rusike said. "We
also need a
sustained 'Baccosi' programme and a heavy injection of foreign
currency."
Presently, the drug situation is pathetic; morale among
the few
remaining workers is at its lowest while most of the equipment is
obsolete.
The CWGH director believes the official cholera death
figure of 16 is
an under-representation of facts as some people were dying
at home.
Other cholera cases, said Rusike, had also been recorded
at Juru
Growth Point in Mashonaland East and in Kariba, Mashonaland West
Province.
"Some two weeks ago, I was in Juru and I witnessed a
cholera death.
One of our colleagues had to leave the workshop we were
holding to supervise
the burial. So, I believe the figure 16 is very
under-represented," Rusike
said.
The Zimbabwe Association of
Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) also
believes more people have succumbed to
cholera than are officially reported.
ZADHR said: ". and that this
is but the tip of an iceberg of much more
morbidity. This has not been
communicated to the public."
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR) has accused government of
"criminal negligence" over the continued
deaths of people due to cholera.
It said it was alarming and quite
unusual that a preventable disease
continued to kill people in "this day and
age".
"The failure by the government to swiftly respond to the
cholera
epidemic is an unacceptable failure of leadership," ZLHR
said.
"These wanton deaths are intolerable and shameful, and the
state's
failure is merely a replication of other high level failures, where
the
citizenry has now been disenfranchised of almost all their basic human
rights."
The organization also believes that more people are at
risk of
contracting the disease while the government was doing
nothing.
"If more than a dozen people have died from cholera in
just less than
a month, we can only imagine how many more are currently
affected by, or at
risk of contracting, this avoidable disease," ZLHR
said.
Rusike called for the return of water management to local
authorities
because Zinwa had no capacity to provide clean water to urban
centres.
Zinwa took over water management in the urban centres from
most local
authorities last year.
Parliament had recommended
that government re-considers its
ill-advised decision to allow Zinwa to take
over water supply,
administration, and billing and sewer reticulation from
local authorities.
Parirenyatwa attributed the outbreak to the
erratic supply of water
and the sewer problem, which he said should be
rectified before the onset of
the rainy season to prevent further deaths.
Mutezo could not be reached for
comment.
But Zinwa acting
manager for Harare Water Catchment engineer Bernard
Poko was recently quoted
as saying the authority had reduced the quantity of
treated water
significantly.
"We are battling to transport the whole chemical
tonnage we need to
produce a substantial amount of water, but there has been
a slight
improvement,' he said.
Last year, at least 15 people
died of the disease countrywide and
Parirenyatwa promised to address the
water problem.
A year later, he is still giving the same
promises.
Had he acted, Joy might have been alive to complete his
mother's house
and to wed the love of his wife next month.
By
Caiphas Chimhete
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September
2008 20:11
MDC-T national chairman Lovemore Moyo has filed papers
in the High
Court opposing an application brought by Tsholotsho MP Professor
Jonathan
Moyo seeking to reverse his election as Speaker of the House of
Assembly.
Professor Moyo and three other MPs, Mzila Ndlovu,
Patrick Dube and
Siyabonga Ncube of the Mutambara formation, have asked the
court to nullify
the Speaker's election on the basis that the election was
not conducted in
secret as required by the law.
But the
Speaker, who was elected on August 25, argues in papers
submitted in court
that it was wrong for Moyo to bring the case because,
under the doctrine of
separation of powers, courts could not interfere in
Parliamentary
business.
In what he said was an effort to protect Parliament and
the Office of
the Speaker, Lovemore Moyo however left it to MDC-T Deputy
Chief Whip
Paurina Mpariwa to respond in detail to the suit.
Mpariwa said under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the
election of
Speaker was an internal matter that could not be determined by
the courts.
She said the election of the Speaker started and ended in the
House of
Assembly.
She said the applicants, instead of rushing to the
courts, had a right
to bring a motion to Parliament to reverse the election
of Speaker.
She disputed allegations that MDC members were forced
to vote and that
MDC-T Secretary General Tendai Biti showed party members
how they should
vote. She said Moyo and the others had to produce evidence
this happened.
"Jonathan Moyo and everyone else was present in the
house when the
vote took place. There was nothing unprocedural about the
election that was
held. Indeed, if there was, then all the members would
have protested and
refused to vote."
Mpariwa also questioned
the standing of the four applicants, saying
the losing candidate Paul
Themba-Nyathi should have been the right person to
bring the
application.
"That they are Members of Parliament is not in
dispute. However, on
what basis can they speak on behalf of the entirety of
210 Members of
Parliament," she said.
Mpariwa said the reason
why the applicants approached the court was
linked to the talks brokered by
SA President Thabo Mbeki.
She alleged the MDC camp led by Professor
Arthur Mutambara had entered
into an unholy alliance with Zanu PF and the
Tsholotsho MP and had hoped to
gain control of Parliament. This would have
forced the MDC-T to negotiate
from a weak position.
Turning to
the Tsholotsho legislator, Mpariwa said: "His reason for
participating in
this present application is probably to try and further
ingratiate himself
with Zanu PF in the hope that he can be made a Government
Minister."
By Walter Marwizi
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September 2008
20:09
Vice-President Joseph Msika has once again publicly backed former
Home
Affairs minister Dumiso Dabengwa who is leading calls to revive PF Zapu
and
abandon the 1987 Unity Accord.
Dabengwa rebelled
against President Robert Mugabe ahead of the March
presidential elections to
support former politburo member, Dr Simba Makoni.
The ruling party's
secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa, is on
record as saying the
veteran politician had expelled himself from the party.
But Msika
told members of the Zanu PF district co-ordinating committee
that Dabengwa
was an authentic PF Zapu cadre and should not be vilified for
his decision
to abandon the ruling party.
The meeting held at the Zanu PF
headquarters at Davies' Hall last
Thursday was organised to brief party
members on the deal between Zanu PF
and the two MDC formations on
establishing an all-inclusive government.
"The Vice-President
queried why Dabengwa was not being invited to such
meetings," said a senior
ruling party official. "He said party members from
the region should not
join those who were vilifying him for campaigning for
Makoni because other
Zanu PF leaders who have rebelled in the past such as
Edgar Tekere did not
receive the same treatment."
In March Msika took issue with
Matabeleland politicians such as
Bulawayo governor, Cain Mathema and
Industry and International Trade
Minister, Obert Mpofu, who labelled the
former Zipra forces commander a sell
out for abandoning Mugabe.
After Mugabe's bloody re-election campaign in June, Msika warned his
colleagues that PF Zapu was still alive.
There are reports of
growing discontent in Zanu PF structures in
Matabeleland following the
signing of the agreement between the ruling party
and the MDC formations as
senior officials believe they are being
marginalised.
Mugabe
has to drop a significant number of Zanu PF leaders from
government in line
with the new configuration, which limits the number of
direct appointees to
parliament.
"In the end, Msika did not talk about how this region
stands to
benefit from the deal with the MDC," said the official. "Perhaps
he is also
aware that there is nothing for us in the deal and the revival of
PF Zapu is
the most logical thing to do."
Msika, who represents
PF Zapu in Zanu PF, retains his largely
ceremonial post of second
vice-president but remains the only representative
in the presidium after
John Nkomo failed to hold on to the post of Speaker
of
Parliament.
By Kholwani Nyathi
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September 2008
20:07
A senior Zanu PF official who led an army of civil servants and
state
media journalists in invading a municipal farm has been suspended for
bringing the name of the ruling party into disrepute.
The Bulawayo City Council is now battling to evict the close to 300
settlers
at Bellevue Farm adjacent to Emganwini high-density suburb after
they
started building permanent structures.
Zanu PF officials say
Lillian Kandemiri, who led the invasion in the
run up to the June 27
presidential election run-off on the pretext that it
was in support of
President Robert Mugabe's "empowerment policies", did not
have the ruling
party's blessing.
But the defiant Kandemiri, a provincial treasurer
in the women's
league has hit back saying she does not recognise the
suspension because her
accusers were supporters of ruling party rebel, Simba
Makoni.
A faction of the ruling party that was openly against
Mugabe's violent
electioneering has disassociated itself from the invaders.
Bulawayo governor
Cain Mathema also says the settlers are
"criminals".
Effort Nkomo, Zanu PF's publicity secretary, said
Kandemiri sent her
husband to the disciplinary hearing and the provincial
executive found that
to be "disrespectful".
"I can confirm that
Kandemiri has been suspended from the party
indefinitely," Nkomo
said.
"We have completed our investigations and we summoned her to
a
disciplinary hearing where she failed to show up but sent her husband
instead, which we found to be very disrespectful."
He said the
official was free to appeal against the decision using
proper
channels.
However, Kandemiri on Thursday said she had not received
the letter of
suspension but acknowledged receiving notification of the
disciplinary
hearing.
She sent her husband to the hearing
because she had suffered an asthma
attack, she said.
"I had an
asthma attack and was not feeling too well," she said. "I
sent my husband to
represent me and he told them that I will attend once I
am feeling
better."
The city council has sought an eviction order at the High
Court
against the invaders after police refused to intervene.
Zanu PF and war veterans have played a leading role in the violent
invasion
of white-owned commercial farms since the government lost a
referendum on a
new constitution in 2000.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September 2008
20:04
HUMAN Rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama says four depositors seeking
an
order declaring cash withdrawal limits illegal, will not withdraw their
urgent application after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe raised the limit to
$20 000.
The four - Rodgers Chigwededza, Tinashe
Gotora, Jackson Mabota and
Precious Mwateyeni - filed papers in the High
Court on Thursday, seeking an
order allowing them to get their cash on
demand, as is the practice the
world over.
They argued that
withdrawal limits violated their constitutional
rights and also the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The lawsuit came as Prime
Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai on
Friday toured banks in Harare's
central business district.
Tsvangirai's tour to assess the
situation at banks comes as part of a
consultative set of meetings on policy
issues before he is sworn in. He held
brief conversations with depositors
and learnt first hand how people were
suffering.
"We are
starving president," said one depositor. "Our hunger is
worsened by the fact
that we spend most of our time in these queues failing
to withdraw our cash.
We are however hopeful things will be fine now that
you are
here."
Among Tsvangirai's duties in the all-inclusive government
will be to
ensure that Zimbabwe's economy is back on track.
The
four applicants, who are members of the Restoration of Human
Rights Zimbabwe
(ROHR Zimbabwe), said they were facing intolerable
difficulties because of
the severe limitations on cash withdrawals.
"The limit ($1 000) is
not based on any rational basis and its
imposition is capricious", they
said.
The day after the lawsuit the Reserve Bank announced it was
raising
the limits to $20 000 a day, in a move that appeared designed to
pre-empt
the lawsuit or render it irrelevant.
However, this
move, their lawyer announced yesterday, would not
distract the applicants
from their court challenge.
"We noted the RBZ has raised the limit
but that won't make the case
fall away," Muchadehama said.
The
lawyer said the crux of the order sought by his clients was to
have the
withdrawal limits declared unlawful. He said the applicants had
only cited
$1 000 as an example of how the limits violated their rights.
The
applicants seek, as a matter of urgency, an order that nullifies
RBZ limits
and at the same time stops imposition of new limits on their bank
withdrawals.
The applicants also want the order to remain in
force notwithstanding
the noting of an appeal.
In the event
that the courts decide the limits are necessary, the
applicants want the
Reserve Bank Governor, Dr Gideon Gono, and the Minister
of Finance of
Finance to be directed to "widely consult all stakeholders and
take into
account their daily practical needs and that the limits be revised
once the
withdrawal limits become inadequate".
In the submissions the
applicants chronicled the hardships they are
enduring as a result of the
limits.
The first applicant, Chigwededza, submitted in his founding
affidavit
that his salary was deposited into Metropolitan Bank, but owing to
pronouncements by the RBZ, he was only able to withdraw a $1 000, a figure
"woefully inadequate compared to my needs".
He said he spent an
average four hours in a queue in blistering sun,
sometimes in the cold, in
the windswept streets and in the dust.
"Needless to say, I lose a
lot of my employer's time trying to take $1
000. Sometimes the bank will run
out of cash while I am in the queue.
The third applicant, Mabota
said his wife was pregnant and he could
not meet his family needs because of
the withdrawal limits.
Mwateyeni, the fourth applicant, is married
with two school-going
children.
"Respondents cannot just impose
withdrawal limits which are not based
on any sound or rational economic
considerations," he averred. "I submit
therefore that the imposing of such
withdrawal limits by the respondents be
declared unlawful. I further submit
that the limits are a blatant
infringement of applicants' various
constitutional rights."
He identified these as the right to life,
protection against cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment and the right to be
heard before
administrative actions are taken.
By Walter
Marwizi&Jennifer Dube
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September
2008 20:01
A top official of the Harare City Council says the council
will soon
regain control of water management from the Zimbabwe National
Water
Authority (Zinwa).
Harare deputy mayor Emmanuel
Chiroto told The Standard that meetings
held between the Deputy Minister of
Water Resources and Infrastructural
development, Walter Mzembi, and the city
council had indicated that water
management would be returned to the
council.
Chiroto said that Zinwa had admitted that it was incapable
of running
water management for the city. The takeover of water management
by Zinwa has
resulted in a serious water crisis in Harare where cholera
deaths have been
recorded.
"We are expecting to take control of
water management as soon as the
formation of the Cabinet is finalised,"
Chiroto said.
However, Mzembi denied ever discussing giving water
management control
to the city council with Chiroto.
"The mayor
(Muchadeyi Masunda) and I discussed a broad range of issues
but we never
discussed the reversal of the mandate of Zinwa," he said.
Mzembi
added that Chiroto was not at the meeting and the only two
people who could
speak truthfully about what was discussed in the meeting
was him and
Masunda. The mayor could not be reached for comment.
Zinwa
spokesperson Memory Kanyanda said that the water authority was
not aware of
any such development.
"We do not know about that. We are hearing it
for the first time from
you," she said.
Chiroto said the
council would soon conduct an audit into council
property which he said was
looted during what he called the chaotic transfer
of water management to
Zinwa.
Chiroto said the audit would also take stock of its human
resources
claiming that some of its employees had been drawing salaries from
both
Zinwa and the city council during the confusion.
"We will
begin an audit of what went to Zinwa from the council during
the takeover.
We need that information. Heads will roll definitely. It is
not going to be
business as usual at Town House," Chiroto said.
He however pointed
out that the delay in putting together Cabinet had
serious repercussions for
the council's operations.
"The budgeting process for the council is
at a standstill because of
the serious delay in the formation of Cabinet. It
is going to affect our
consultation process for the budget. Ministries need
to be allocated so that
we can effectively address the plight of our workers
as well as the
residents," he said.
Chiroto said the council
faced numerous problems because they had
inherited an authority that was
bankrupt. The workforce was disgruntled and
some were resorting to
moonlighting to supplement their meagre incomes.
He said the lack
of equipment had reached alarming proportions.
Chiroto painted a grim
picture of the state of affairs. He said sweepers
were resorting to sweeping
pavements with tree branches while gravediggers
asked for picks and shovels
from mourners.
He said councillors had not received any transport
allowance since
occupying office, forcing them to fund council activities
from their own
pockets.
By Kudzai Kuwaza
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September 2008
19:58
The state-controlled Zimpapers hacked personal emails of one of
its
editors who is on suspension for allegedly writing falsehoods against
President Robert Mugabe.
Bhekinkosi Ncube, the editor
of Umthunywa, was initially suspended
last month by Zimpapers chief
executive officer, Justin Mutasa, following
accusations that he insulted the
"head of state and First Secretary of Zanu
PF".
A fortnight
ago, fresh allegations that he moonlighted for a hostile
news website were
added to the charge sheet.
Zimpapers last week presented Ncube with
the "evidence" showing that
he was moonlighting. It consisted of three
personal e-mail messages he sent
to friends discussing the political
situation in the country.
"The e-mail messages were purportedly
written by Ncube and had
comments about the political situation in the
country," said a senior
journalist at Zimpapers.
"The e-mails
were forwarded to someone referred to as "Snifer 2" but
that evidence wont
be entertained in any court because there is no proof
that those who hacked
the e-mails did not add their own incriminating
evidence.
Legal
experts said Zimpapers violated Ncube's right to privacy by
illegally
intercepting his e-mails.
The scandal might open a can of worms
because the controversial
Interception of Communications Act signed into law
by President Mugabe last
year outlaws the interception of communications by
individuals and
organisations without a warrant.
The warrant is
issued by the "Minister of Transport and Communications
or any other
Minister to whom the President may from time to time assign the
administration of this Act".
Sources said Mutasa was already in
trouble with the authorities for
his "transgression".
"The
application for the warranty is a lengthy process and is only
done in
serious cases where people are believed to be a threat to national
security," a lawyer who requested anonymity said. "He must be advised to sue
them because this was a serious invasion of privacy."
Takura
Zhangazha, director of the Zimbabwe Chapter of the Media
Institute of
Southern Africa, said Ncube's case showed a worrying trend that
the
government was willing to go to any lengths to "violate journalists'
freedom
of expression."
He said journalists were being targeted for holding
divergent
political views and this was "undemocratic". Mutasa was not
available for
comment.
By Kholwani Nyathi
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September 2008 19:54
WOMEN'S
rights activists want to add another sticking point to the
contentious issue
of cabinet appointments: they are demanding that key
ministries should be
headed by women.
They also want women to head at least 30%
of the 31 ministries created
under the power-sharing deal between Zanu PF
and the two MDC formations.
This however could be a shot in the
dark as all the parties are said
to have completed their most likely
line-ups for different portfolios. Most
of the posts are held by men. Fewer
women that are being proposed were
elected into the two houses of
Parliament.
Among the organisations pushing for the deal is the
Women in Politics
Support Unit (WiPSU) and the Feminists Political Education
Project (FePEP).
They say this is "not too far fetched" as it is in line
with a protocol
adopted by Sadc heads of state in South Africa last
month.
Officials from the two organisations confirmed they were
pushing for
more women to be appointed to Cabinet and for the appointment of
women to
key ministries. They however could not be drawn into divulging the
names in
their proposals.
WiPSU director, Cleopatra Ndlovu
said: "Right from the talks, the
representation of women left a lot to be
desired. Everything was telling a
male story, even the picture. And now we
are talking about cabinet, this is
where issues of power between men and
women are going to be demonstrated."
She said the agreement makes a
commitment to involve women, but there
is no suggestion how this would be
carried out.
"Having read the agreement, it talks about women in a
way that the
principals acknowledge women have to be put in strategic
positions. But we
don't see the actual action plan to involve women. It
appears they just talk
about women, just to appease us."
Theresa Mugadza, a co-ordinator of FePEP, said they had "engaged with
the
negotiators at various times about the inclusion of women".
"We
have written to them, but there's not been any formal response,"
Mugadza
said.
Asked about their proposals, Mugadza said: "I cannot start
giving you
names now."
But sources in the women's movement said
Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga - who ironically is one of the FePEP
co-ordinators and
took part in the negotiations that led to the power
sharing deal - tops the
list of the feminists' suggestions. Her name has
also appeared in a number
of possible cabinet line-ups currently being
circulated.
According to our sources, some feminists want
Misihairabwi-Mushonga to
head either the Ministry of Industry and Commerce
or Regional Integration
and International Trade, which are understood to
have been given to her
formation. The proposal is based on
Misihairabwi-Mushonga's background as a
former chairperson of the
Parliamentary public accounts committee and MDC's
shadow Minister of Foreign
Affairs.
"We look forward to the appointment of women to strategic
ministries
such as foreign affairs, home affairs, defence, local government,
finance,
trade, health and education just to name a few - something like
what they
have in South Africa," added Mugadza.
Section 20 of
the agreement signed on September 15 acknowledges "the
need for gender
parity, particularly the need to appoint women in strategic
Cabinet
posts".
The FePEP, through Mugadza, even suggested how the
ministries would be
distributed.
"For avoidance of doubt, out
of the 31 ministerial positions, 15
should be women and of the 15 deputy
ministers, 8 should be women. Of the 15
cabinet posts Zanu PF has, at least
seven ought to be women; of the 13
cabinet posts that MDC-T has, at least
seven ought to be women and of the
three seats MDC has, at least one has to
be a woman. Of the eight deputies
Zanu PF appoints, four have to be women,
the six MDC led by Tsvangirai
appoints, three ought to be women and the one
deputy of the MDC led by Prof.
Mutambara must be a woman."
But
Luta Shaba, the director of Women's Trust -a Harare based
organisation said:
"For us, what is more critical however is to have an
institutional mechanism
to oversee the commitment to issues of gender
representation. It does not
matter what percentage we have, if there is
nobody to oversee the
implementation it won't work. It is not about numbers,
it is about walking
our talk."
By Vusumuzi Sifile
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September 2008
19:52
Church leaders want a truth and reconciliation commission as one
of
several ways of cementing the recently signed political settlement
between
the country's main political rivals.
Christian
Alliance, a coalition of churches involved in human rights
advocacy at the
height of Zimbabwe's political crisis, said it had already
set up nationwide
structures to spearhead the national healing process.
But Raymond
Motsi, the alliance's spokesperson, said national healing
would not be
possible without full disclosure of what happened, followed by
some form of
justice.
He said churches favoured a truth, justice and
reconciliation
commission modelled along the lines of one established to
deal with
political crimes in post-apartheid South Africa to achieve true
reconciliation.
"Churches are saying the process should start
once a new inclusive
government is put in place," Motsi said. "That should
mark the beginning of
the transitional justice system."
The
ruling Zanu PF and the two formations of the opposition Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC) signed an agreement to form an inclusive
government
on September 15 following a violent election season.
The agreement
called for the promotion of a national healing process
but so far the
parties are not agreed on what form it should take.
Prime
Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai recently said senior
members of Zanu PF
should face prosecution for their role in human rights
violations against
opposition supporters in successive elections.
He said President
Robert Mugabe would not face prosecution.
On the other hand,
Professor Arthur Mutambara of the small MDC
formation said the new
dispensation should avoid "retributive justice".
Sections of civic
society who have dismissed the power-sharing deal as
elitist, say they
prefer a consultative process to decide how Zimbabweans
want to manage the
reconciliation process.
Motsi said ordinary people not political
parties should decide whether
the healing process should include disclosure
of crimes dating back to the
1980s atrocities in the southern region or that
it be confined to the
political upheavals that began in 2000.
This process should not be left to the political parties alone," he
said.
"It should not be elitist and should not be a political decision
between
Zanu PF and the MDC.
"It should not be legislated to the
Zimbabweans."
Christian Alliance programmes co-ordinator Barbra
Bhebhe said church
leaders were being equipped with counselling skills so
that they could take
charge of the reconciliation process.
She
said the new government should be committed to ensuring there
would be no
repeat of the violence.
During the course of the negotiations led
by former South African
President Thabo Mbeki, leaders of the three parties
issued a statement
saying all sides were responsible for the
violence.
But human rights groups say Zanu PF militias were
responsible for most
of the violence that left over 100 MDC supporters dead,
more than 5 000
injured and 120 000 others displaced.
Meanwhile, Christian Alliance has set aside October 5 as a day of
prayer and
has called on all politicians to attend church services in their
areas.
The prayers, the group said, were meant to strengthen
the new
government and also to pray for a better rainfall
season.
By Nqobani Ndlovu
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September 2008
19:40
THE Zimbabwean dollar plumbed to new lows last week pushing
prices up
as the political stalemate takes a toll on the already battered
economy.
Despite signing a power-sharing agreement two
weeks ago, the three
political parties - Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC-M - are
bogged down on the
allocation of key ministries. Negotiators for the three
parties have failed
to agree and passed the buck to the three principals:
President Robert
Mugabe; Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai and
deputy Prime
Minister-designate Professor Arthur Mutambara.
While negotiators have haggled over key ministries, the Zimbabwean
dollar
has become a casualty tumbling to all-time lows against major
currencies.
Initially the local unit had firmed against major currencies
following the
signing of a power-sharing deal two weeks ago.
However, the failure
by the parties to agree on ministries waned
confidence in the local unit as
the battered Zimbabwe dollar plunged to an
all-time low.
The
Zimbabwean dollar, which was changing hands at $45 against the
Rand, shot up
to $120 for the same unit on Thursday. The Zimbabwe dollar has
also
depreciated to $1 000 to US dollar from $450 the previous week. The
rates on
the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) have also firmed from $60 000
to the
US dollar to $320 000 on Thursday.
The plunge has had an effect on
the prices of goods which had been
reduced following the signing of the
power-sharing deal. A loaf of bread
whose price had been halved to $500 was
back at the old figure last week.
The price of a two-litre orange crush
juice rose to $3 000 from $2 300 the
previous week. A one-way trip into town
increased by 25% to $500 last week.
Economic analysts attribute the
depreciation of the local unit to a
drop in confidence in the agreement
signed two weeks ago.
"People's confidence has dropped a lot and
exchange rates reflect
that," said John Robertson, an independent
economist.
"There will be more movements unless there are obvious
signs of
power-sharing."
Dr Daniel Ndlela of Zimconsult, an
economic consultancy firm told
Standardbusiness the local unit was tumbling
due to the absence of
confidence in the system.
"There is no
confidence at all in the system. Market confidence is
what you believe in...
it is a self-fulfilling process," Ndlela said. "At
the level where market
confidence is zero and you have hyperinflation, you
cannot price your
goods."
Analysts propose a currency board whereby the Rand and US
dollar will
run side by side with the local currency. The currency board
will assume
central bank powers of printing money, thereby arresting
inflation. But
analysts were quick to point out that the new measures should
be embarked
upon by the new government. Already Zanu PF and MDC are tussling
over the
Finance ministry in what analysts say will hamper economic
recovery. The MDC
accuses the central bank of fuelling the parallel market
activities through
money printing, a charge analysts say reflects that the
MDC should run the
Finance Ministry.
"If the Ministry of
Finance doesn't go to the MDC, the rates
(exchange) will go to the roof,"
said economist, Professor Rob Davies.
Prof Davies says recovery
chances are slim "unless there are some
dramatic policy
announcements".
By Ndamu Sandu
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September 2008
19:36
DESPITE a marked deterioration in the country's business
environment,
foreign direct investment (FDI) levels into Zimbabwe continue
to rise, a
report published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development
(UNCTAD) shows.
The release of the report
coincided with a function hosted by Ernst &
Young in Harare on Thursday
evening at which various presenters spoke about
the readiness of the
investor community to move into Zimbabwe and the
international investment
that is being rallied because in the Southern
African region, the country
represents unparalleled opportunities.
There are also other
parallel processes such as the dialogue forum on
economic recovery in
Zimbabwe being spearheaded by the United Nations
Development
Programme.
Released last Wednesday, UNCTAD's World Investment
Report shows that
FDI inflows surged 73% from US$40 million in 2006 to US$69
million last
year.
The report says total FDI into Africa rose
15% from US$46 billion to
US$53 billion under the same period, propelled by
a boom in the commodity
markets, rising profitability of investments and
improved policy
environments, although analysts have said Zimbabwe lacks
these conditions.
The announcement of Zimbabwe's growing FDI
inflows comes at a time
when the country is expecting more from external
investors following the
signing of a political deal touted as a crucial step
towards curing the
country's economic environment, largely criticised as
unfriendly especially
with regards to skewed government policy.
The UNCTAD report shows that FDI inflows fell from US$88 million in
2000 to
US$9 million in 2004, peaked to US$103 million in 2005 only to
tumble to
US$40 million in 2006.
The Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA)
which recently hosted a
Bangladesh delegation which was in the country to
scout for investment
opportunities says it has been inundated with inquiries
from potential
investors following the signing of the political deal.
Speaking at a meeting
last week, Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)
president Callisto
Jokonya, Chamber of Mines president David Murangari and
Zimbabwe Council of
Tourism (ZCT)'s Emmanuel Fundira said their
organisations had also received
similar inquiries.
Speaking at
the launch of the UNCTAD report, outgoing Minister of
Information,
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said his government was committed to creating
an investor
friendly environment especially in the light of the recent
political
settlement between the three major parties.
By Jennifer
Dube
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September 2008
19:34
A private sector business organisation - the Business Council of
Zimbabwe - was formed in Harare last week to complement the efforts of a
proposed statutory business body, the National Economic Council
(NEC).
In a recently signed political deal, the country's
main political
parties Zanu PF and the two MDCs proposed the formation of an
NEC which will
give advice to government and formulate economic plans and
programmes for
approval by government among other duties.
But
business leaders, last Wednesday formed their own Business Council
of
Zimbabwe which will focus mainly on co-ordinating private sector
activities,
especially lobbying government and other stakeholders.
"We will
make contributions to the proposed NEC," Confederation of
Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) president Callisto Jokonya said. "But unlike the
NEC, which
will comprise government representatives, ours is mainly a
private sector
initiative."
Largely operating independently over the years, the
various business
organisations which came together to form the council are
CZI, Zimbabwe
National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), Employers Confederation
of Zimbabwe
(Emcoz), the Chamber of Mines, Zimbabwe Council for Tourism
(ZCT), Bankers'
Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ), Commercial Farmers' Union
(CFU), Zimbabwe
Commercial Farmers' Union (ZCFU) and Zimbabwe Farmers' Union
(ZFU).
Jokonya said membership would be restricted to legally
constituted
business bodies and more of these would be taken on
board.
The council's chairmanship will be rotated among members on
a six
months term and Jokonya was appointed first chairman. Each member
organisation will also be represented in a technical committee.
Modelled along the lines of the Business Union of South Africa, which
has
ensured business participation in economic development in that country
through providing a forum for engaging government and labour, the newly
formed Business Council of Zimbabwe will provide a forum for joint
negotiations.
He said fragmented lobbying had in the past
proved less effective amid
serious economic problems that require all
stakeholders to have a unity of
purpose in resolving them.
"Different business organisations, acting on behalf of their
respective
members have lobbied relevant authorities, mainly government, for
the
creation of an environment that promotes economic stabilisation and
growth,"
he said. "In doing so, we realised that while we all aimed at the
same
thing, and shared common interest, our message might have been conveyed
differently and thus being liable to be by those to whom it was being
directed."
Jokonya said the council will also provide a forum
for discussion
within the business community to build consensus, commission
the development
of business plans and promote business ethics among
others.
"But this agreement also leaves room for each organisation
to engage
government on specific matters to their sectors as well," Jokonya
said.
ZNCC's Obert Sibanda, Emcoz's Johnson Manyakara, Chamber of
Mines'
David Murangari, ZCT's Emmanuel Fundira, CFU's Trevor Gifford, ZFU's
Silas
Hungwe and ZFCU's Wilson Nyabonda endorsed the new body saying they
were
certain a united front would strengthen business
operations.
By Jennifer Dube
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September
2008 19:05
I learnt at an early age, long before I became a boxing
faithful that
you do not continue to beat a man when he is
down.
Thabo Mbeki, erstwhile President of South Africa, is
down and much as
one may be tempted to berate him and say the man got his
comeuppance, I will
be faithful to my long held belief.
It is
not surprising, however, that some among our number have nothing
kind to say
about the man, especially regarding his role in Zimbabwe during
the tenure
of his presidency. Many think he could have done better and
quicker. Most
think he was too close to President Robert Mugabe and
therefore failed to
rein him in as the country slid into the abyss. Yes,
Mbeki made some
mistakes but beyond that there is a nauseating
pre-occupation with what
Mbeki could have done, instead of what Zimbabweans
themselves could have
done and indeed, could do going forward.
The Sukuma people of
Tanzania have a saying that you do not insult the
hunting guide before the
sun sets. They know that, sometimes, you could
spend all day; endure the
heat of the day and still struggle to find game.
It is then that you get
frustrated and you are tempted to insult your guide
for failing in his task.
Yet, it is during the twilight when the animals
come out to graze and if you
wait a little longer, you might just make a
catch.
A colleague
asked recently: "What do you do when your office-mate has
a problem of bad
odour; everyone in the office whispers behind his back but
the mate is
oblivious to his shortcoming and the discomfort that it causes?"
I
said to him: "You may need to use some quiet diplomacy. Check his
birthday
and for his present buy him even the cheapest deodorant. Whether or
not he
uses it is up to him but he should get the message."
We
Zimbabweans, specifically our leaders, are that office-mate. Mbeki
bought us
some deodorant. It is a cheap deodorant alright but we still can't
seem to
use it. I do not think we can continue to blame Mbeki when we have
big men
and women who claim to have the capacity to run the country. It is
up to
them whether or not they can wear the deodorant and minimise the
discomfort
our country is causing in the whole region.
The one line of enquiry
I have noticed in communications with
colleagues and readers is how Mbeki's
departure and the ascendance of the
Zuma group will affect Zimbabwe. This,
to my mind, is a narrow enquiry that
characterises the limitations of our
approach to our own problem: we have
outsourced it to South Africa so much
that we overly expect its leaders to
do something for us. The appropriate
question, in my view, is how the
leadership changes might affect South
Africa itself.
No matter how self-important we feel, Mbeki has not
been ousted
because of his handling of the Zimbabwe issue. The principal
reasons lie in
the internal dynamics of South African politics and it is
there that change
will be felt the most. This in turn will likely have a
huge effect on the
region and Africa as a whole. The risk is that if South
Africa itself
becomes the problem, it will undoubtedly overshadow the
Zimbabwean crisis,
as has been the case in the last few days. Because if
whatever is cooked in
South Africa goes wrong, the whole of Southern Africa,
indeed the whole of
Africa, could contract very terrible
diarrhoea.
There is an ominous coincidence between the forced
departure of Mbeki
and the turmoil in the global financial markets, arising
from the credit
crunch. Some Leftists have been arguing that the global
financial turmoil is
a clear illustration of the perils of neo-liberal
(capitalist) economic
policies. The biggest capitalist countries have
effectively nationalised
large sections of the financial industry - rescuing
ailing financial
institutions and the financial system as a whole. This
enormous rescue,
critics have now called, "financial
socialism".
Now, during Mbeki's tenure, South Africa pursued
relatively
conservative economic policies and achieved good levels of
economic growth.
He did not pursue radical economic changes in terms of
wealth
redistribution, hence the growing pool of discontent in the unions
and other
left-leaning organisations. COSATU and the Communist Party,
erstwhile
partners, became ever more hostile.
It is, perhaps, a
sign of the times that these left-leaning sections
played a key role in
ousting Mbeki and catapulting Jacob Zuma, his political
nemesis. It is
interesting that the ascendance of these left-leaning
sections in the ANC is
coming at a time when the neo-liberal paradigm has
suffered some huge
set-backs.
hat remains to be seen is how Zuma will respond to
the demands of his
powerful and vocal constituency on whose crest he is
riding. In his haste to
please a disaffected majority he actually risks
doing a Mugabe -the radical
policy shift like Zimbabwe's land reform
programme which would likely upset
the delicate balance in South Africa's
socio-economic dynamics. There are
genuine concerns and interests to be
pursued but he will need to tread
carefully. I do not think the vocal
constituency of the poor majority will
lie low when they have their man at
the top. It is those changes in South
African economic policy that will
affect its economy that will likely have
greater impact on Zimbabwe than any
direct action on Zimbabwe.
Sterner critics have concluded that
Mbeki's legacy is in tatters; that
he has none at all. The HIV/Aids denial
and the blunders that followed will
forever haunt the man. He has taken a
pasting for his velvet handling of
President Mugabe and
Zimbabwe.
But if he has no legacy at all, there is at least one
great lesson
from the ruins, one that he has delivered at his lowest moment.
It is that
when you are in power and you are no longer wanted, you do the
honourable
thing and resign. If you have to fight for your reputation, you
do it
outside office. It is neither necessary nor right to cling to power,
against
the will of those who voted for you or their representatives. He has
done
the dignified thing and resigned.
He may disagree with the
motives or the manner of his removal. I have
had an opportunity to read his
Constitutional Court application in which he
is challenging aspects of the
judgment that precipitated his fall. He may
well be right, from a legal
point of view, since the findings of fact and
law made by the judge in the
Zuma application, citing political interference
on his part, were made
without affording Mbeki the right of response, itself
a critical tenet of
natural justice.
But more than most, Mbeki's resignation should
send a loud message to
our own leaders; that there is time to be and time
not to be. He could not
have spoken more eloquently, albeit with his
conduct, about the need to put
the country first before one's individual
interests. So we do have the irony
here, that a man who has suffered great
humiliation and takes it on the chin
may have to preside over feuding
Zimbabwean politicians, the principal cause
of which is the refusal by
individual politicians to acknowledge failure and
rejection by the
people.
I was joking with colleagues before Mbeki's ouster last
week that,
since our politicians cannot seem to agree anything without him;
and once he
left Harare, the feuding over Cabinet positions began; and since
Thabo is
excess to requirements in South Africa, perhaps they could hire him
as a
permanent mediator. Because frankly, if they have started squabbling
over
Cabinet appointments, what lies in store when it comes to hard policy
matters during the operation of the Inclusive Government?
And
so it is that, with Mbeki gone, we continue to walk in the valley
of the
shadow of uncertainty. It would be great if we could say that we
shall not
want. Sadly, that is not the case. There are neither green
pastures nor
still waters in Zimbabwe. We are still in need of goodness and
mercy for
there is too much evil still to fear. . .
Alex T. Magaisa is
based at, Kent Law School, the University of Kent
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September 2008
19:04
ALTHOUGH intended to help alleviate the financial crisis and ease
shortages in the economy, the new Foreign Exchange Warehouse and Retail
Shops programme in Zimbabwe will likely worsen the plight of already
over-burdened Zimbabwean women, especially the large numbers who rely on
cross-border trade for a living.
Monetary authorities
announced the new programme, which would see 1
000 retailers and 200
wholesalers across the country licensed to sell goods
in foreign currency,
on September 10. Since then, some traders and analysts
have expressed
concern about what this means for the most vulnerable in
society.
"In a way, we are seeing this programme as only meant
for the elite
with the spending power. It will widen the gap between the
have and the
have-nots. We are failing to buy products because they are very
expensive
here and that is why we are resorting to neighbouring countries,''
said
Thembelihle Moyo.
Moyo, who travels to Botswana every
month to buy commodities and
clothing for resale, said cross-border trading
has been a lifeline for her
and her family and she fears that the new
programme will negatively affect
her business, on which she and her whole
family relies.
According to Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono, the
move aims to ease
commodity shortages on the market. "Under this framework,
authorised dealers
will match sellers and buyers of foreign exchange guided
by a pre-determined
priority list as set from time to time by the Reserve
Bank," said Gono in a
monetary policy speech. Food and agriculture inputs
are highest priority.
To get a licence, applicants must outline
their foreign exchange
needs, the goods they sell, capacity to handle
foreign exchange, estimated
weekly or monthly sale volumes and ownership
structure.
At face value, the strategy suggests a positive move.
Increasing the
availability of foreign exchange and with it the buying power
of retailers
and wholesalers seeks to help alleviate the plight of local
people who face
extreme shortages, runaway inflation, and a lack of basic
goods and
services. However, the potential negative impact requires
scrutiny.
After analysing the concept and the context under which
the programme
would be implemented, it is debatable whether this policy will
not in fact
bring more woes to the ailing economy - particularly more so to
Zimbabwean
women, the majority of whom rely on cross-border trade to feed
their
families and send their children to school.
With a
membership of more than 15 000 across the Southern African
Development
Community (Sadc), cross-border traders, the majority of who are
women buy
goods in neighbouring countries for resale in Zimbabwe. They then
buy
foreign currency for the next lot of goods. With the unavailability of
foreign currency in the formal banking system, most of the traders, rely on
the parallel market to run their businesses.
Dollarising the
economy would increase the demand for the hard
currency and rates would go
up, reducing the spending power of most informal
traders. Already,
Zimbabweans are faced with the current pricing system,
which puts the prices
of basic commodities beyond the reach of many and
analysts predict that
foreign-currency priced goods are likely to be more
expensive compared to
what people are buying them for currently.
According to Innocent
Ncube, National Youth Development Trust
Chairperson, this partial
dollarisation of the economy would hurt vulnerable
groups more and lead to
profiteering by unscrupulous businesses.
"This policy also raises
questions of whether people will be paid in
foreign currency. If not, where
are people expected to get the foreign
currency from?" he asked. This will
worsen the plight of every Zimbabwean
and indeed our mothers and wives who
face the day-to-day burden to see to it
that their families are well taken
care of."
Women like Constancia Sibanda, from Rural Nkayi in
Matabeleland North
province, who have never seen the United States dollar or
the South African
Rand, are unlikely to benefit much from such a policy
development. Sibanda,
who survives on subsistence farming, said during good
harvests, she sells
excess produce and has no prospects of ever getting any
foreign currency. In
a way, this policy completely excludes
her.
Sibongile Mpofu is a media lecturer at the National University
of
Science and Technology in the Department of Journalism and Media
Studies
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September 2008
19:02
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe recently introduced the Basic
Commodities
Supply Side Intervention programme boastfully dubbed
Bacossi.
The programme which, by and large, is ostensibly
anchored on ensuring
that the perennial shortages of basic commodities "will
become a thing of
the past" has remained fundamentally shrouded in a mist of
obscurity both in
terms of its short-term and long-term
deliverables.
The programme, just like any other venture initiated
by the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe, received unparalleled publicity in both the
print and
electronic State-run media. It was reported in one of the
state-run daily
newspapers that the Bacossi programme is equal to a final
nail into the
coffin of all economic saboteurs with the aim of frustrating
the population
so that it can be drawn into supporting a regime change
agenda in Zimbabwe.
It is reported that an elderly woman was also spotted in
the rural village
of Charumbira about 30km outside Masvingo town gyrating in
dances apparently
celebrating the end of what had become perennial shortages
of basic
commodities - thanks to the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe.
Three months after the programme's launch, the
population is still
faced with a rather diabolical shortage of basic and
essential commodities.
One will then be forced to ask the alarmists at the
state-controlled media
what has happened to the coffin that was used to bury
the enemy called
"Shortages of Basic Commodities?"
It is a
common fact that these shortages are still with us and with no
concrete
strategy to address the fundamentals, the shortages are here to
stay and
that it will take time before this country can declare the
prevailing
macro-economic dispensation "a thing of the past". A snap survey
in the
central business district of Harare will always unravel a serious
increase
in the shortage of the same basic commodities even after the
presentation of
the Bacossi programme.
What is tragic about the initiative is its
blind emphasis on the
supply side at the expense of production side which to
me is the most
fundamental thing at this juncture. The programme as it
stands, survives
because of the Reserve Bank's wanton use of the much-needed
foreign currency
to import hampers from South Africa.
The
country is operating at a very precarious standing as a result of
the
hyper-inflationary domain and for a Central Bank to then use millions in
US
Dollars simply to buy hampers for one twentieth of the population can
only
but feed the country's hyper-inflation. To that end, non-populists like
some
of us will be left with no option but to dismiss the entire initiative
as
nothing short of a populist scheme anchored on rewarding all those who
remained loyal to Zanu PF during and after the March 29
election.
What is required from a central bank are ventures
that are not
blatantly piecemeal and short-lived like what the nation
witnessed with
regards to the much publicized Bacossi programme. There is a
serious need
for the Reserve Bank to become real and commence financing all
ventures that
will adequately address the production side of this economy.
It serves no
one including our parents in the rural areas to have supper one
night of the
week because of a programme like Bacossi and then be forced to
endure the
six remaining days of the week perilously deprived in terms of
the basic
commodities.
What we require as a nation are
interventions saturated with
pragmatism because as things stand the entire
country is affected. It is not
only the rural folk that is enduring all the
prevailing shortages of basic
commodities, hence measures must address the
challenge in such a way that
all, despite their political calling or
geographical position benefit and
benefit in a sustainable
manner.
This country will continue to move in circles as long as
there are no
production-orientated interventions by the government. I would
love to see
the same elderly women who were spotted in Charumbira
celebrating because as
a country we will have managed to develop a
sustainable production-centered
initiative.
No amount of
'bacossing' can serve the situation if the production
side is not adequately
supported and in the same process granted the respect
it so much deserves.
Let's have some real positive action for change.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Saturday, 27 September 2008
18:58
THE measures previously undertaken by the Reserve Bank to
increase the
maximum bank withdrawal limits for individuals and companies
have amply
demonstrated the futility of such
approaches.
What is clear is that the solution cannot
emanate from the central
bank. It has to come from elsewhere, including the
lessons of countries that
have suffered similar crises, although on a more
limited scale compared to
Zimbabwe.
On Thursday the Reserve
Bank announced that from tomorrow (Monday) it
was raising the maximum cash
withdrawal limit for individuals and companies
to $20 000 and $10 000
respectively.
It is difficult to understand what informs central
bank decisions:
companies, cognisant of the hardships their workers are
enduring have taken
to paying them bus fares in cash. It is therefore
incomprehensible how
anyone can suggest that companies access a maximum of
only $10 000 a day. In
any case the needs of any given company are greater
than those of
individuals.
What effectively the central bank is
doing is to force companies to
access cash from and through unorthodox
means. And the real beneficiaries
are the "cash barons". We all know who
they are and which organisation they
belong to.
The central
bank has failed to learn a lesson from the past and to
appreciate that every
time such limits are set the prices of commodities
follow with yet another
round of increases.
The longest queues in town are now found at
banks. There are more
people at banks at any given time than there are at
work. That is a damning
statement on the failure to manage the cash crisis.
Setting maximum
withdrawal limits has served to provide short-lived
relief.
We cannot pretend that we are managing the process when
people are
spending nights in bank queues in order to access their
hard-earned savings.
The lesson ordinary people are taking from the on-going
crisis is: if you
can, do not deposit your savings in a bank, because it is
a struggle to get
it. It is aseconomic blueprint that will bring an end to
the queues outside
banks.
The whole exercise is designed to
frustrate depositors from
withdrawing their money. People should be able to
access as much of their
money as they want when they want it.
Matters are not made any easier when there are suggestions that
central bank
staff are allowed to withdraw as much as 10-fold the amounts
ordinary
depositors were permitted as of last week. Such charges fuel
allegations of
the duplicitous conduct of the Reserve Bank.
One thing that the
cash crisis has emphasised is to make the
transition from the rhetoric of
the political settlement agreed to by the
three main political parties to
the implementation of the deal, so that
Zimbabweans have a permanent
solution to cash shortages.
Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday did what
many of the politicians have
never bothered to - gain a first-hand
impression of what ordinary
Zimbabweans have to endure when he toured the
long-winding bank queues in
central Harare.
Many distraught
depositors will hope something tangible comes out of
the Prime
Minister-designate's walkabout, not just in a resolution to the
shortage of
money but in the country's recovery process.
One development to
emerge from last week's hiatus in the negotiations
over sharing of
government ministerial positions is that the outside world
is more concerned
that after the September 15 agreement Zimbabweans should
have hit the ground
running in implementing the recovery process.
The country's
political leadership needs to prove that they too are
concerned and should
set about implementing their economic blueprint that
will bring an end to
the queues outside banks and locate workers at their
work stations.
http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
Mugabe Holding The Nation To Ransom
Saturday, 27 September 2008
18:44
EVERY genuine Zimbabwean hopes that the power-sharing agreement
that
was recently signed by the main political rivals in Zimbabwe will
hold,
and that the Government of National Unity that will
eventually be
formed will urgently address the economic problems that have
ruined the
country for so long.
In the spirit of unity,
therefore, it is generally retrogressive for
people to dwell on the past
wrongs and point fingers at others. This should
be the time to use lessons
learnt from our past differences to make the
future better for
everyone.
That said, I must say I am extremely disappointed that
President
Robert Mugabe is one man, who cannot just let bygones be bygones.
Despite
the fact that most of the problems we have in Zimbabwe are a direct
result
of his government's disastrous policies of the last 28 years, Mugabe
is
still in denial about his own role in Zimbabwe's current
predicament.
Instead of using his speech at the signing ceremony to
pledge a better
future for all, Mugabe chose to abuse the occasion to blame
the usual
scapegoats; Britain, America and the "violent" opposition. His
party took
exception to the booing he received during his uninspiring
speech, but what
else did they expect from a leader who wants to hold back
Zimbabwe's
progress just to assuage his own ego?
Later he told
his Zanu PF Politburo colleagues that they now had to
accept the humiliation
of sharing power with the opposition because they
failed to unite in the
run-up to the March 29 elections this year. This is
incorrect. Zanu PF lost
the March 29 election because of its failed
policies. In fact, it is the MDC
who failed to win outright because of their
own failure to be united as a
single party. It is the MDC, in its two
formations, which has now been
humiliated for they have to share power with
a discredited party which has
failed to deliver for 28 years. Even Mugabe is
on record saying that his
last Cabinet was the worst. In fact, all his
Cabinets of recent years have
been corrupt, ineffective, lacklustre and
incompetent.
Now we
read that the talks on allocation of Cabinet posts are
deadlocked because
Mugabe still wants to control all the key ministries,
including finance and
foreign affairs. For a man who presided over the total
destruction of this
once thriving economy and who made Zimbabwe a pariah
state it's difficult to
understand what else Mugabe can achieve that he hasn't
tried all
along?
Hudson Yemen Taivo
United
Kingdom
----------------
Gono's Policy
Outrageous
Saturday, 27 September 2008 18:42
I
find it outrageous that the Reserve Bank can direct that
depositors be
allowed to withdraw only Z$1 000 of their hard-earned savings
from banks and
yet at the same time allow holders of FCAs to withdraw a
maximum of US$1 000
a day.
I have also heard that the very same Reserve
Bank allows its
staff to withdraw a maximum of Z$10 000 a day, perhaps
because some animals
are more equal than others.
The
circus at the RBZ is a study case in how not to manage the
economy. A loaf
of bread costs Z$1 000, while transport costs from the
majority of townships
as of this week is Z$400 a trip. So effectively what
the RBZ is saying is
that we spend our days in queues just to be able to buy
a loaf of bread or
enough to get to work and back.
In the meantime how are we
supposed to pay rent, buy groceries,
school fees and other essentials? By
its myopic policy directives, the RBZ
is forcing law-abiding citizens to cut
corners in order to survive.
I am amazed that even the best
of our legal minds don't believe
the RBZ could be challenged in a court of
law for this kind of abuse. Even
the MDC does not see how inconvenient the
withdrawal limits are and the
negative impact this has on productivity as
people are forced to spend time
in queues at the expense of
work.
It appears the only beneficiaries of Gono's chaotic
policies are
the banks which must literally be reaping decillions since
virtually every
customer is forced to transact every
day.
Get real
Emerald
Hill
Harare
--------------
State Media Must Be Examplary In Serving The
People
Saturday, 27 September 2008 18:39
The
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is calling on all
journalists in the
country, especially those in the state media, to play a
positive role in
moving our country forward through assisting national
healing and creating
hope.
We note with dismay that the state-controlled
media continues
with its use of hate speech and propaganda which flies in
the face of the
spirit of national engagement and the political settlement
in Harare two
weeks ago.
Through spiteful political
columnists such as Nathaniel Manheru,
the state-controlled media continues
to use hostile language that is out of
touch with the political developments
on the ground.
Last Saturday, Manheru used uncivilized
language, peddling the
usual
falsehood that the MDC is full
of imaginary puppets of the
whites and that Zanu PF should be careful as the
nation navigates towards an
inclusive government.
He used
derogatory language against elected officials.
Such behaviour is
unwelcome and jeopardizes the spirit of
togetherness which was guaranteed
and endorsed by Sadc and the African Union
in Harare last
week.
Manheru is a well known civil servant who continues to
abuse his
position. He has not toned down his hate speech, confirming that
he is a
front for a minority and parasitic elite which is benefiting from
the
current crisis; a clique that is deriving profit from the suffering of
the
people of Zimbabwe.
The state-controlled media
continue to give acres of space to
analysts who want to poison the spirit of
dialogue. They continue to grant
acres of space to people who shout at
others instead of giving coverage to
critical national issues such as
HIV/Aids, national development and economic
transformation.
The MDC hopes that public institutions
will begin to appreciate
that they are not political appendages. They must
simply serve the people.
Nelson Chamisa
MDC Secretary for Information
Harare
--------
GNU Must Communicate Its Vision To Gain Public
Support
Saturday, 20 September 2008 18:32
THE
Government of National Unity being formed by Zanu PF and the
two Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) formations will, in essence, be
change
managers.
Zimbabweans have suffered for so long and
probably become so
disillusioned that it might take time for them to
appreciate real prospects
of change.
In management change
people look for quick returns in order to
win over cynics and sceptics and
build on their quick wins to convince
followers that they can do it.
However, media and communication will be the
key to the change we
seek.
Most failures in change management are grounded in
people's
emotional attitudes to change, which are not necessarily rational
which is
why communication is extremely important.
It is
therefore vital for the new government to address the
issue of communication
and information through a thoroughly professional
manner so that Zimbabweans
are on the same page and can buy into the change
agenda. Every voice matters
and it comes with the territory in a GNU because
without adequate
communication there won't be unity of purpose and common
vision. People will
pull in different directions, support individual leaders
or players in the
team.
It was such a shame that while those of us in the
Diaspora could
watch the proceedings of the signing ceremony live on BBC and
Sky channels
on September 15, 2008 some Zimbabweans did not even know that
there was such
a historic occasion going on.
It is also
possible that details of the agreement will remain
scant because not enough
care was taken to ensure information filters down
to the remotest of our
villages and is translated into indigenous languages
to enable every
Zimbabwean to understand what was agreed upon. There is
still an opportunity
for the new government to re-run the proceedings of
what happened at Rainbow
Towers in Harare.
Media practitioners, some of whom are
imbedded in party
politics, may need reorientation so that our change
efforts as Zimbabweans
are articulated satisfactorily at all times. This
will include areas where
the new inclusive government will be failing and
areas where they succeed
and where the responsibility for outcomes lie.
Point-scoring and partisan
support for individual players is one thing that
we need to guard against as
Zimbabweans but accountability should be the
cornerstone of the new
beginning. It is important to avoid declaring victory
too soon even if we
need to secure short-term wins in order to inspire the
people.
The quick wins that the new government could achieve
include
issues that may not need resources but just political good will.
Such issues
include, opening up the media which is part of the agreement
signed between
Zanu PF and the MDC formations.
The media
can promote a battle of ideas if run professionally
and it is important for
community development. In the past our politics has
been focusing too much
on individuals and personalities. Local newspapers
and community radio
stations will help to build vibrant communities from
which change should
actually start in the first place, otherwise the change
agenda will only
cater for the elite.
The new inclusive government can win
over the Diaspora by a
stroke of a pen by simply changing the law to allow
the Diaspora to enjoy
dual citizenship which is the case with most
democratic countries like South
Africa or United Kingdom, and even Nigeria
that understand we are now global
citizens or transnational
citizens.
The new government is therefore encouraged to
quickly
communicate its vision through the appropriate media for respective
audiences in the rural, urban areas and even the
Diaspora.
There should be no room for spin because it will
simply make
people despair. So, may the work begin!
Musekiwa Makwanya
United Kingdom
-----------
TheStandard Sms
Saturday, 27
September 2008 18:52
I appeal to Zanu PF to come to their senses
and admit that they
are a defeated party.
They no
longer have the moral power to rule this country, no
matter their dreams.
Can't they see what other honourable people are doing?
Even the mediator
himself has respected the will of his people and stepped
down, yet here in
Zimbabwe we fail to have a government that respects and
follows the will of
the people. Can't Zanu PF do a simple good thing for
once and let the people
have peace? One day, the people will judge them
harshly. They have trampled
on our rights for far too long. - Franco.
******
CHIMURENGA guru, Thomas Mapfumo will be very
embarrassed that he
prematurely praised President Robert Mugabe for signing
the Memorandum of
Understanding. It seems Europe/Britain/the US were right
in their cautious
response to the signing. - Witness.
No
good criminals
WHAT African leaders seem to be blind to is
that murder or any
crime for that matter doesn't become less heinous or
condemnable when
committed by African brothers. The view expressed by
President Robert Mugabe
in attacking Botswana's criticism of his
"presidential victory" appears to
suggest this. Obviously the United Nations
or the International Criminal
Court might as well do without such African
contribution. Hence it can never
be immoral for the ICC to round up the
African political criminals, even as
a first priority. -
Oppressed.
******
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's
vow of not being publicly critical of
fellow Africa leaders is just what is
wrong with "African Democracy".
Elected people are answerable to the public.
- Voter.
Morgan the saviour
I find it
curious that after all the professors, doctors and
academics we have in
Zimbabwe, we have to look to Morgan Tsvangirai, a
simple man from a humble
background to bail us out from what our so-called
academics have plunged us
into. - Kman.
******
LET'S hope that
Zimbabweans are learning a lesson from the
Western credit crisis and the
implications it has on the global financial
markets and taking into
consideration that the real effects will be felt in
future. Speculation and
deals are not signs of intelligence, but are
accidents of being in the right
place at the right time.- Streetwise.
******
PEOPLE should stop exchanging their foreign currency
for
nothing. The disaster is not yet over. - MIC
Kuss.
******
WE were informed that
the Governor of the Reserve Bank worked 17
hours a day, but doing what, we
do not know. We now want to run our monetary
policies by the book. It's the
only way. The haphazard way that has been
pursued during the past five years
caused this mess.- Johnso, Banket.
Hoping for
justice
A lot of competent people lost their jobs in
parastatal
organisations on spurious charges - because they were perceived
to be MDC.
Now that this agreement has been signed, I hope Prime
Minister-designate,
Morgan Tsvangirai will make sure that I get my job back.
- Hopeful.
Switch-off protest
I may not be
able to heckle President Robert Mugabe, the way the
MDC MPs did on the
official opening of Parliament, but I play my part by
switching off my radio
and television set whenever he appears. -Chikomana.
******
TO Professor Claude Mararike's reaction on the conduct
of MDC
MPs during President Robert Mugabe's opening of Parliament I say: I
would
rather have hooligans as legislators than arsonists, murderers and
rapists.
You didn't care to comment on the violence that was unleashed
during the
March and June elections, so please keep your mouth shut. -
Muongorori.
******
ACCEPTING blame and
responsibility for the abject poverty and
the suffering that the majority of
Zimbabweans find themselves in would be a
sign of greatness rather than
weakness on the part of President Robert
Mugabe. - Great
Kali.
Zanu PF must go
ZANU PF must step
aside and give the MDC a chance for this
country to develop. President
Robert Mugabe's Cabinets have consistently
failed to deliver. And he has
admitted as much. - Loftist.
******
AT least
we now have a more modern, more up-to-date, more
popular and more
sophisticated leadership in Parliament. Everything is
"More". -
Morgan.
******
People are starving, but where
are the elected MPs, the National
Incomes and Pricing Commission, farmers'
organisations, teachers, donors,
bankers and commerce? - Albert,
Hwange.
******
THE biggest obstacle behind the
talks is that the parties can't
decide whether or not to buy extra mansions
in Greystone Park or
Helensvale. - Tycoon.
******
THE MDC must just forget about the four key ministries -
Defence, Information, Foreign Affairs and Lands. These belong to Zvangu PF,
alias Zanu PF. - Survivor.
Rabid
hypocrisy
ZANU PF should be embarrassed by Kirsty Coventry's
success. They
are being forced to swallow their rabid hate language against
whites in this
country as they grovel at Coventry's feet. -
Davy.
******
IT was predictable hypocrisy that
Zanu PF would want to parade
Kirsty Coventry's achievements as theirs, while
at the same time hounding
out of this country, the few remaining whites. -
Patriot.
******
I suggest that all the formal
end of year examinations scheduled
for 2008 by the Zimbabwe Schools
Examination Council be shelved as students
lost many lessons due to the
following: Political violence against teachers
in schools; strikes by
teachers over poor salaries; teachers' mass exodus;
and queuing for cash on
a daily basis at the expense of students. - Ruined.
Could
your newspapers investigate the real story of what is
happening to power
supplies to consumers? In our area supplies are available
between 11pm and
4am. How then can we deny that this is not a collapsed
economy when there is
no electricity, no cash, no fuel, not even firewood
just to mention a few?
Cry the beloved country. - Chitongai Tione.
The late Dr
Joshua Nkomo put "national interests" first when he
negotiated with Zanu PF
and look what happened to his party. Whoever is
insisting that Morgan
Tsvangirai put national interests first has a sinister
agenda for the MDC.
It's time for different tactics. - Tactician.
When the MDC
gets into a power-sharing agreement with Zanu PF it
must guard against being
contaminated. The worst that could happen could be
for the people to fail to
distinguish between the MDC and Zanu PF. - Truman.
Putting
national interests first should not be a euphemism for
just letting Zanu PF
off with all the power. President Robert Mugabe should
put the national
interests first by retiring and leaving the stage for
Morgan Tsvangirai. -
Wiseman.
To every Zimbabwean, I say it is time to work and
forget about
the past. - Oracle.